Neil Lennon ‘walked in on victim moments after abuse by football coach in caravan’

A court has heard an accuser give evidence that Barry Bennell abused him over a number of years after he began playing youth football for Crewe Alexandra. And he claimed current Hibs boss and former Celtic captain Lennon had stayed in the caravan at the time

By Eleanor Barlow

31st January 2018,3:22 pm

Updated: 31st January 2018,3:42 pm

NEIL Lennon walked into a caravan moments after Barry Bennell abused one of his victims, a court has heard.

The last complainant to give evidence to the trial said the 64-year-old former coach had abused him over a number of years after he began playing youth football for Crewe Alexandra.

The complainant described being forced to perform oral sex on Bennell in the car while the coach was driving.

On another occasion, he said he and another boy were abused by Bennell at the same time while they were in his bed.

He also told the court Bennell attempted to abuse him while his wife Linda, the sister of victim Andy Woodward, was in the same house but had gone to the kitchen to make a drink.

He said: “This time I moved away as he tried to get me to do stuff, whilst his own wife was out in the kitchen. It’s the one time I could get away and I remember Linda coming back in the room asking if everything was OK.”

The victim said he hadn’t told anyone about the abuse until 2016.

He said: “I wanted to be a footballer. I wanted to impress my parents, I wanted to impress my dad most of all, so by telling them that, I know it would have devastated them, which it now has.”

Eleanor Laws QC, defending, said Bennell accepted abusing the complainant 30-35 times over a two to three-year period but denied forcing him to perform oral sex or raping him.

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